The cart quickly disappeared after dropping them off.
There was a forest just in front of them. The coachman had told Aryn that this was the outer border of Wuffsain and that the country lay on the other side, about 15 kilometers away. Aryn could see some animals wandering around, but the place was so silent that he could hear his own footsteps in the grass. One could easily think that the forest had no life at all.
“We’re finally here,” Aryn said.
Leheen stretched her body and rubbed her eyes. “Is this... Wuffsain? Where’s everybody?”
“This isn't Wuffsain,” Aryn said, still contemplating the tall trees. “We’re just at the border.”
“Are you serious?” Leheen's drowsiness instantly faded at his response. “Why didn’t you tell the coachman to drop us off inside?”
“He told me it would be very dangerous during the day. It would also be a bad idea to have a cart from Aral up here at the border if we waited. They could kill us.”
“Aryn!” Leheen groaned. “Why did you do that? This is what I get for falling asleep during the trip. Now we’re stuck in this field.” She looked annoyed.
“I don’t see the problem.” Aryn shrugged. “We’re as safe as we can be.”
“Yeah we're so safe out here in the middle of nowhere,” she said. “I'll find a way to make you repay a favor, since you’re making me walk.”
They walked through the forest until they found a clearing. It was getting dark.
“Aaah, I’m so tired,” Leheen whined as she put one hand against a tree. “I hate walking.”
“That’s part of the adventure, you know? We should rest for now.”
“I didn't consider that. Oh well.” She sat in front of a tree trunk and gazed at the sky.
As Leheen looked up, she felt something on her leg. It might have been a pointy leaf that had fallen onto her lap. When she looked down, she immediately brushed the thing off and stood up.
“Ugh! No! Help! It’s a filthy creature! It’s an aberration of nature!”
Crunch!
“It’s a spider,” Aryn said after stepping on a silver spider.
“I hate those things.”
“Oh, it seems I've leveled up! Not much XP, though. It was just a little spider.”
“There are more of them! Grrr! Damn it, Aryn. Wait, now I know how you can repay me.” She turned to him. “You won't sleep until you've cleared every silver spider out of here.”
“Every one?”
“Yes, every single one. Since you like this place so much, you might as well do that.” Leheen thought for a moment. “It'll help, actually, if it makes you level up.”
After several minutes of stepping on silver spiders and throwing rocks at them, Aryn checked the area and found that there were none left.
“There, all finished. Are you happy now?”
“Yep. Let's go to sleep.”
But just as they were about to go to sleep, a group of spiders rushed toward them and attacked. One of them shot a web that covered Aryn's hand.
“What is this?”
The spiders they encountered this time were more aggressive. There were six or seven of them, and they moved very fast, making them difficult to kill. Eventually, however, Aryn managed to kill them.
“Oof, that was hard. I think those were the last ones.”
More spiders began crawling out of the darkness and attacking them. This time, there were more than a dozen.
“Let’s look for another clearing. Maybe there’s a nest somewhere around here. Let’s just avoid doing anything to them.”
But even though they didn't attack the spiders, the little creatures were more aggressive and actively pursued them. Aryn and Leheen were terrified. The spiders were much faster and more difficult to kill, leaving them with no choice but to run away.
From many meters away, they could see another clearing. A tall woman stood there with her back turned toward them.
“Hey! We need help!” Leheen called as they approached the clearing. “Can you help us with these spiders?”
“Of course,” the woman hissed.
Her lower body was that of a spider, and the sight made their hearts sink. Her giant spider legs stomped on the ground as she turned around.
Her eyes were completely black, and her skin was gray. The exoskeleton of her spider body gleamed in the little light that remained at night. She screeched at them before rushing toward them.
Aryn and Leheen ran in the opposite direction, but in their panic, they became disoriented. Instead of leaving the forest, they went deeper into it. With the giant spider woman running toward them so quickly, their bodies didn't care where they went as long as they could escape her.
They reached a cave and ran inside. A cloud of buzzing insects swarmed around them as they entered. Once they were deep inside the cave, they realized they could no longer hear the spider's footsteps.
“I think we lost her,” Aryn panted as he pulled Leheen deeper into the cave, just in case. She was also exhausted from the pursuit. “That was my fault. Sorry, Leheen. We should have gone directly to the first city”
“No, no. It's my fault. I told you to go around recklessly killing spiders for XP. If only I'd known we'd end up in this situation. But at least everything's okay. I think we can leave tomorrow as if nothing happened.”
Then they heard footsteps approaching. It was the giant spider.
Leheen grabbed Aryn by the hair and pulled on it.
“Aryn, it's all your fault! We're gonna die here because of you!”
“Guess I gotta fight.” His sword trembled in his hands. “But let's back up a bit.”
“A bit more.”
“A bit more... Why is it so hot in here?”
“I've been waiting for you, Aryn.”
A pair of hands settled on Aryn's shoulders. He turned around in fright, and the succubus was standing right in front of him.
“A succubus?” Leheen said. “Now, besides getting killed, we're going to get raped!”
“Why did you come here with just a sword? Don't you know how powerful I am?” The succubus approached them, but Aryn didn't back away. He recognized her face.
That face, those eyes... That's the face of the succubus from my dream.
“You...”
“Now you remember me?”
“What are you doing, Aryn? You can get her to rape us first, right?”
“No, I've seen her before.”
“I know you're in trouble right now,” the succubus said, looking mysterious and nonchalant. “So I can help you, but on one condition. You two must give me a quarter of your vital energy.”
“A quarter? What should we do, Aryn? A quarter will likely be so much that we could fall sick and die soon.”
“Hmm, it’s a rough decision, but I guess we have no other choice.”
“You're right.” Leheen was examining the succubus's breasts.
“Mmmm, soon I'll taste both of you. So delicious. Well, I have to get to work.”
She walked past them and faced the giant spider, which was crawling along the ceiling of the cave. The creature dropped heavily to the floor with a thud that shook the ground beneath its eight legs. It hissed at the succubus, who stared back with a confident gaze.
“My name is Hun'Yana, by the way.” She raised both hands to her sides, and flames erupted from them. “Prepare to witness my great fire powers!” She held her chin high.
Hun'Yana threw a fireball at the giant spider. The spider easily dodged the attack and shot a web at her. Then a massive wave of poison washed over her, making her collapse onto the floor.
“She’s just as useless as us,” Leheen said.
“Help... me...” the trembling succubus said, with an arm reaching up at the two of them.